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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1997)
Texas A&M University n htdf ilume 103 • Issue 164 • 6 Pages Jews entsj ed Cross conducts mpus blood drive full-sit's AmBriGan Red Cross and Blood- fceci eare conducting a blood drive at eeta as A&M today through Thursday. Donation buses are at the Memo- Student Center, the Commons iby and Spence Street from 10 to5 p.m. Donors will receive a free T-shirt. 5 a pn oi mt lo r thf rican Imac ^thai sovei ire to JxBS Tomorrow Today See extended forecast, Page 2. College Station, TX JlMfilM '' i Tuesday, July 15, 1997 Briefs lass of '97 awaits jproval of gift Hie Class of ’97 is waiting for final ra/al of its class gift, a $60,000 en- |d-Ti ment for renovations of the Grove. David Recht, class gift chair and a e"ii lior civil engineering major, said money will be deposited in an ac- nt maintained by the Texas A&M ndation. There, the $60,000 will rue interest, which will be used to ifor future renovations approved tie MSC director. Recht said he and Richard Biondi, a resentative of the Foundation, have ledthe endowment. He said it awaits approval of Dr. J. Malon Southerland, "^president for student affairs. Hie class also has given $3,000 to Association of Former Students ac ini This money will be used at the eretion of class agents for smaller Sorclass reunion costs, Recht said. said the money for the gifts is raised by the Class of ’97 over four years through sales of 'gDance tickets, Elephant Walk T- hsand other class memorabilia. ...iti alse alarm triggers Evacuation of Evans Ive [ind . Wiotelhan 180 students and fac- WintheBjans Library were evac- 'W for about 30 minutes yester- ly after a fire alarm went off 'und3p.m. The University Police Department Medthat a contractor working on ustroction near the library set off ialarm accidentally, file College Station Fire Depart- responded to the alarm to as- "itwas false. stitute to sponsor search symposium I fhe Research and Technology isfer Symposium, a one-day pro- fmon information and technologies liable in food safety, processing, feting and policy, will be held in the WerTheater Complex Sept. 30. The Institute of Food Science and peering will sponsorthe program, ich provides participants problem- Nngtechnologies and information the future of food processing. For more information about the pposium contact the Institute at 9)862-2036. LIFESTYLES cal Color Gallery exhibits t by A&M architecture cfessors. See Page 3. OPINION pllaway: PITS appeals [ocess needs improvement ncerning time management. See Page 5. ONLINE | ttp://bat~web.tamu.edu sit The 0 'ire, AP’s Miour "ine news ,u !r vice. FITS offers ticket appeal process By Joey Jeanette Schlueter The Battalion More than 100,000 parking tickets are issued each year at Texas A&M University, and about 10 percent are appealed by students, faculty and A&M visitors, Park ing, Transit and’Traffic Services said. Tom Williams, director of PTTS, said the number of ap pealed citations that are dismissed, meaning the violator does not have to pay the ticket, varies each semester. See related column. Page 5. “Very few people appeal their citations,” Williams said. “We receive about 100 appeals a week during the year.” Williams said students and faculty have two options when appealing a citation. “We are only the first level of appeal,” Williams said. “If the driver does not like our decision, then they can appeal to the appeals panel for the University. Our de cision is not final.” The PTTS procedure for appealing a citation re quires that a driver first pay a bond in the amount of the ticket and then fill out an appeals form stating why the driver thinks he or she should not have been ticketed. Parking counselors, four full-time counselors and four student workers with the same authority, consider the appeal. It then is directed to the adjudicator, who makes the final decision. If the driver then feels the appeal decision is not fair, it can be presented to the University appeals panel, which consists of four to six faculty, staff and students. The pro cedure for appealing citations by PTTS is under “Parking Tickets” in the University Regulations Handbook. Williams said only six or seven ticket appeals go be fore the University Appeals Panel each year. When considering the dismissal of a citation, Williams said a driver’s history of University citations is considered in the appeals process. “Usually the ticket is dismissed if it is a first-time cita tion for the driver,” he said, “but in cases of abusing the sys tem, the citation may be reduced, or the appeal is denied.” Please see PTTS on Page 6. ttaUiut : m Splish Splash Photograph: Tim Moog Emily Varnell, senior kinesiology major, instructs a water aerobics class for students and facul ty called “Fit Life” in the indoor pool of the Rec Center Monday afternoon. Space station commander suffers from heart troubles Cosmonaut's condition could lead to delay in planned repairs MOSCOW (AP) —The commander of the crippled space sta tion Mir complained of an irregular heartbeat Monday and asked nervously whether he was healthy enough to take part in a vital mission to repair the damaged Russian spacecraft. “For crying out loud!” cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev exclaimed after reporting his symptoms. “This is bad timing.” “You have to calm down!” a doctor from Mission Control told him repeatedly, urging the 43-year-old crew leader to get more sleep. “Will I be able to make the trip?” Tsibliyev asked, referring to the repair mission. “Let us think and see,” the doctor replied. In coming days, either Tsibliyev or his crewmate, Alexander Lazutkin, needs to make a trek into the airless, ruptured Spektr module — one of six modules that make up the Mir—on a mis sion to restore full power in the space station, home to the two cosmonauts and American Michael Foale. A final dress rehearsal for the five-hour mission is set for Tues day — three weeks after the Spektr was hit by a cargo ship, forc ing the crew to seal it off and disconnect the power cables. The accident was the latest in a series of mishaps that have struck the 11 -year-old orbiting station since February, when Tsibliyev be gan what has turned out to be a tense tour of space duty. Tsibliyev blamed his heart problem on the stress of the col lision, which occurred while he was practicing docking the car go ship using manual controls. Valery Lyndin, a spokesperson for Russian Mission Control, said Tsibliyev’s heart rate showed some irregularities during a recent ride on a stationary bike, but his condition did not ap pear to be serious. Russian officials downplayed concerns over Tsibliyev’s health, saying a shift in the crew’s sleeping schedule last week may have played a role in his symptoms Monday. “Tsibliyev is a late riser, and he has been struggling to adjust to the schedule all the time,” deputy mission chiefViktor Blagov told The Associated Press. There was a note of exasperation in Blagov’s comments. “We have been hearing his complaints of a workload being too heavy since the very first day of his flight,” he said at another point. “Maybe it’s just personal and he can’t work as fast as we urge him to.” Blagov refused to speculate whether Tsibliyev’s condition might lead them to postpone Saturday’s planned venture into the Spektr. “Let’s wait until doctors make their conclusion and not do any guesswork,” he said. gan wnat nas tumea out to oe a tense tour ot space duty. any guesswork;, ne said. Texas to open DNA database of sex offenders DALLAS (AP) —Texas is joining the list base,” Mendenhall said. “The ultimate Dawn Herkenham of the FBI forensic sci- DALLAS (AP) —Texas is joining the list of states using “genetic fingerprints” to try solving sexual crimes. A computer database is being filled with the DNA information of some crim inals. Authorities hope for it to one day be ah important crime-fighting tool both on state and national levels. About 500 DNA profiles have been en tered in a few months into the database, known as Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS. Dr. Meghan Mendenhall, who super vises the Texas Department of Public Safety program, said she expects to even tually add about 1,000 records per month. "The purpose is to provide DNA pro files that law enforcement agencies can search through, like a fingerprint data base,” Mendenhall said. “The ultimate purpose is to solve sexual assault crimes for which there are no suspects.” The system will allow police to con duct electronic searches based on fluid or tissue samples, similar to the way finger print matches are currently sought. Investigators have yet to test the sys tem; therefore, no crimes have been solved with it. “We knew it would take some time to build,” said state Rep. Brian McCall, R- Plano, who sponsored the 1995 law that created the database. “But I’m ready for a hit. I’m ready for it to prove its value.” Since the FBI sponsored the creation of a DNA database in the late 1980s, all but four states have passed laws requiring certain convicts to submit samples, said Dawn Herkenham of the FBI forensic sci ence systems unit. Some states collect DNA samples from people convicted of murder, assault, rob bery and kidnapping. Texas requires any adult convicted of a sex crime to submit a blood sample, re gardless of when the crime was commit ted. Juveniles who committed a sex crime on or after Jan. 1,1996, also must provide blood samples, as must certain adult pro bationers and parolees. Officials note that sex offenders often strike more than once — sometimes after they’ve been convicted and released. The state spent about $700,000 build ing its DNA lab in an old bus garage. Mendenhall said it will take about $800,000 per year to run the program. Graphic: Tim Moog Merchants dispute proposed hotel site By Robert Smith The Battalion Some Northgate business owners say the revitalization efforts in the area may be threatened after the College Sta tion City Council voted to have a hotel and conference center buil t at Wolf Pen Creek rather than Northgate. Some Northgate merchants believe a Northgate ho tel and conference center would be more beneficial to the community than one at Wolf Pen Creek. Ongoing Cover&go Don Ganter, owner of the Dixie Chicken, said the city made a mistake by voting for the Wolf Pen Creek site. Ganter said the city should have considered proxim ity to Texas A&M in their decision on the hotel location. “It’s real stupid,” Ganter said. “My observation is that it is incompetent not to understand that the reason peo ple come to the Brazos Valley is Texas A&M University.” The city voted 4-3 onThursday to begin negotiations for a Wolf Pen Creek hotel, office building and confer ence center. Citizens will vote in November to decide if the hotel will be built. Ganter said a Northgate hotel would be more conve nient to visitors of A&M and would help revitalize the area. “This one (hotel) would be right across the street from the school and there would be no transporta tion problems,” Ganter said. “It would also rejuve- nafe an old part of town.” Mayor Lynn Mcllhaney said Wolf Pen Creek offered more development opportunities than Northgate. “The Northgate vicinity is already developed and the Wolf Pen Creek will allow more development with busi nesses,” Mcllhaney said. “It was a matter of choosing de velopment over redevelopment.” Please see Hotel on Page 6. Report shows AIDS deaths are declining WASHINGTON (AP) — Deaths from AIDS are dropping—19 percent during the first nine months of 1996 — with white men accounting for most of the change, the government announced Monday. Deaths among minorities and women are not de clining nearly as much, and AIDS activists warned that the gap will widen as more poor people cannot afford the expensive drugs that promise to prolong their lives. “AIDS is not over. If we act like it is, it may never be,” warned Daniel Zingale of the advocacy group AIDS Action. Some 30,700 Americans died of AIDS between January and September 1996, down from 37,900 during the same time period in 1995, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The GDC reported in February that AIDS deaths had dropped during the first six months of 1996, the first decrease since the epidemic began in 1981. Monday’s report tracks an additional three months to show the trend is continuing. Please see AIDS on Page 6.